The way people think about the environment, economic development and the links between the two is changing significantly. The end of the 1980s saw fundamental revaluation of our interest over resource availability and use, the environmental consequences of resource exploitation and the relationship between the environment, poverty and economic changes. This re-established opinion has given rise to a new approach to environment and development issues, an approach that seeks to reconcile human needs and the capacity of the environment to cope with the consequences of economic systems. This approach is called Sustainable Development.

The World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) (better known as the Brundtland Commission) define sustainable development in Our Common Future in 1987

as:

Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of

future generations to meet their needs.

Sustainable development holds humankind responsible for existing circumstances and challenges humankind to accept responsibility for instituting the changes necessary to attain sustainability. This challenge was reinforced at the United Conference on Environment and Development challenge was reinforced at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992. The conference‟s principal product (endorsed by the more than 100 heads of state and close to 10,000 delegates) was an agenda for change, called Agenda 21, a description of perceived needs and proposed actions to bring humankind into harmony with the finite resources of the earth by the middle of the 21 century.

According to Mannion & Bowlby (1993) the vision of sustainable development set out in the Brundtland Report is a call for policies that recognise the need for economic growth, and seek to maximise growth, but which do so in a way which does not risk the position of vulnerable people or deplete the future viability of the resource base. It calls for a different attitude to economic development, in which the quality of growth is seen to be as crucial as the quantity of growth.

The Brundtland Report (cited in Mannion & Bowlby) identifies two key concepts in sustainable development policies:

a.The basic needs of all people must be met in a way which provides for their needs

with security and dignity-in the world today, where the needs of so many are not met,

this inevitably means giving the needs of the poor priority.

b.There are no absolute limits to development-development potential is a function of

the present state of technology and social organisation, combined with their impact on

environmental resources.

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Harold Silva Guerra – Green Marketing

The Brundtland Report highly evolved the following list of objectives for sustainable development policies:

a.Conserving and enhancing the resource base

b.Merging environment and economies in decision-making processes

c.Reviving economic growth

d.Changing the quality of growth

e.Ensuring a sustainable level of population

f.Re-orienting technology and managing risk

g.Meeting essential needs for jobs, food, energy, water and sanitation.

In this essay we will focus on Green Marketing because companies and governments must act in a responsible manner to support environment for instance, reduce use of toxic materials, contamination water, lack of sanitation, ecosystem destruction due to development, deforestation, population growth, insufficient reuse and recycling, dung and wood burning and so on. Moreover, consumers who demand goods and thus create environmental problems.

On the other hand, Green Marketing requires that consumers want a cleaner environment and are prepared to pay for it, probably through higher priced products, changed lifestyles, or even governmental intervention.

This report will attempt to define „green‟ marketing, briefly explain aspects of why

companies move to green marketing, governmental and competitive pressure, social responsibility and, finally a conclusion will be provided.

2GREEN MARKETING

2.1DEFINITION

Many people around the world believe that green marketing is just promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics for instance, environmentally friendly, ozone friendly, recyclable and so on. Frequently, consumers in the world associate that terms with green marketing but these terms are green marketing claims, in general green marketing is a big concept, one that can be applied to services, industrial and consumer goods, etc. Furthermore, green marketing include many aspects such as packaging changes, product modification, advertising modification, as well as production process.

According to Polonsky M (1994) he pointed out that Green or Environmental Marketing

consists of all activities designed to generate and facilitate any exchanges intended to satisfy human needs or wants, such that the satisfaction of these needs and wants occurs, with minimal detrimental impact on the natural environment.

management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying the needs of customers and society, in a profitable and sustainable way.

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Harold Silva Guerra – Green Marketing

3STRATEGIC MARKETING OF GREENER PRODUCTS

In the last decades innovative environmental managers and product designers have made considerable progress toward reducing the environmental impacts of products. Handled by regulations, new technologies and consumer pressure, whilst designers have focused on particular eco-aspects of products such as increasing the amounts of recycled or recyclable materials, reducing material intensity of products an so on.

There are five aspects for companies who wish move to green marketing: (Polonsky, 1994)